Amanda Lewis stood staring at the end of her driveway where she'd watched Jack Nicholson's taillights disappear and heard the sound of his tires screeching in his haste to get away. She could feel tears threatening again when she felt a hand on her shoulder and heard Heather's soft voice.
"My God, Amanda... this must've been one hell of a weekend..."
She turned around to face her friend. "Oh, Heather... you have no idea!" Heather's arms wrapped around her as she burst into tears, and she let her friend comfort her for a moment and then let Heather lead her into the house.
Heather Morris could tell that Amanda was exhausted and in no mood to go into any details about her weekend with Jack Nicholson. She was sure Amanda would tell her all about it when she was ready...
**********
Amanda never brought up the subject of that weekend, other than to submit her glowing review of the Pacific Views Inn & Cottages in Santa Barbara on it's range of accommodations, it's friendly, courteous and discreet staff, the excellent amenities offered and the wonderful food and atmosphere of it's dining facility at their weekly Monday morning meeting. Their bosses at Luxury Travel in Beverly Hills were most impressed to learn that Amanda had gotten a first-hand recommendation from a big star like Jack Nicholson. She told them that she had encountered him at the resort by accident and had been lucky enough to talk to him and learn of the staff's discretion toward celebrity guests. Heather had bitten her tongue during that meeting as Amanda had made her promise never to mention just how well she knew Jack.
By Friday, Heather was beginning to worry at how anxious her friend seemed at times, and then she found her in the ladies room at work that afternoon sobbing. "Amanda, what's wrong?"
She shook her head... she wasn't about to tell Heather that her period had started, even though by her calculations, it was early. She couldn't bring herself to tell her friend that she was broken-hearted over the fact that she wasn't carrying Jack Nicholson's baby. "I'll be OK, Heather... I just can't talk about it now, so please, don't ask me any more questions, OK?" Her friend hugged her briefly and told her she wouldn't but that she was there for her if she needed to talk. Amanda thanked her for her understanding.
Later that evening, Amanda made the hardest phone call she'd ever made in her life, but, as luck would have it, she got his answering machine. She steeled her emotions and delivered the news, glad to be talking to a machine instead of him... it made it so much easier for her...
Leaving the message had been a little easier, but she knew getting on with her life now that she thought she and Jack were never meant to be together would be harder than she ever imagined...
**********
Jack Nicholson sat staring blankly out the window of his office in his house on Mulholland Drive, listening to Amanda's emotionless voice telling him that he was completely "off the hook." He didn't want to believe it at first and he was also upset that she sounded so matter-of-fact at telling him they were never meant to be...
It felt like a knife was twisting in his gut as he kept listening to the message over and over, trying to pick up some hint of emotion in her voice... something to tell him that she still loved him...
Of course she still loves you, you stupid jerk! But you went back to Anjelica leaving Amanda with the knowledge that the only way she could be a part of your life was if she was pregnant... How do you expect her to sound?!!! You fuckin' prick...
Oh, forget this fuckin' shit, Jack!!! You left it up to fate and Mother Nature and now they've given you their answer! Just forget her and get on with your life... You know Anjelica is the only woman who will keep takin' you back when you screw up... Amanda told you herself that she wouldn't be as understanding...
Yeah... it would hurt Amanda more because she probably loves you more than Anjelica does now... You've hurt Anjelica so many times over the years that you've diminished her love for you... Would you be willing to risk doing the same thing to Amanda?
No... I guess I wouldn't... But, goddamn... I miss fuckin' that tight, sweet pussy...
It's more than just that you stupid prick!!! You miss making love to her... you miss her...
SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!
**********
In June of 1987, the L.A. Lakers ended up winning the NBA Championship against the Boston Celtics by winning four out of six games. Ironically, the Lakers had ended up playing the Seattle Supersonics in the Western Conference finals and won all four games against them. It had seemed to confirm that stupid "bad juju" excuse that she and Jack had accepted as the reason they weren't "meant to be..."
Right after the NBA Championship, Jack's latest movie,
"The Witches of Eastwick,"
opened in theatres. Jack had sent Amanda an invitation to the premiere, but she couldn't bring herself to go. She knew he'd probably be there with Anjelica and she couldn't face seeing them together. But she kept going to the theatres and saw it over and over, laughing and crying throughout the whole movie.
His line about being just an "average horny little devil" had her in stitches every time she heard it! So many of his lines in that movie just sounded like typical things that he himself would say. Jack Nicholson wasn't playing the character Daryl Van Horne... Daryl Van Horne was Jack Nicholson!
Amanda had burst out crying the first time she saw the movie when it was revealed that he'd impregnated all three of the women in the story. Everyone sitting around her had looked at her like she was completely nuts! And then she'd cried even harder at the end when he tried to get back in touch with his "boys" by sneaking in through the television sets, only to be "turned off" by the mothers...
I'd never have done that to him...
she'd thought sadly as she drove home, still wishing she had gotten pregnant...
Toward the end of June, Amanda realized that she hadn't experienced another period since that first short one less than a week after she'd been with Jack. She didn't think anything of it at first and let it go for another couple weeks, but when she started to wake up in the mornings feeling queasy, she started to suspect she'd been wrong. She made an appointment to see her gynecologist right away and was shocked when he informed her that she was, indeed, pregnant.
"But... I had a period about a week after the only time I could've conceived! How is that possible?"
Dr. Vogel explained to her, "Miss Lewis, you were a virgin until then, and sometimes a woman will experience a little vaginal bleeding not long after her hymen is ruptured. Did it seem like a full period or was it very short and very light?"
"No... it was very short and light and it seemed like it had come about two weeks sooner than I was expecting it," Amanda replied.
"Then that's what it was, just a little vaginal bleeding, because according to the test results, you're at least nine weeks pregnant," Dr. Vogel said as he looked up from her chart. He saw the stunned look on her face. "Are you OK, Miss Lewis? If this was unexpected, we can certainly put you in touch with Family Planning so you can weigh your options..."
"NO!!!" she shouted at her doctor, making him flinch at the forcefulness of her voice. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you... I do plan to keep this baby, so that won't be necessary. I'm just a little shocked because I didn't think I was pregnant when I had really hoped I was..." Amanda said, her voice shaking with emotion. She left her doctor's office still in a daze and headed back to the travel agency.
Heather saw her coming through the front door and caught her as she came in. "Amanda! You're never going to believe who's here and waiting for you in your office!!!" she exclaimed quietly. When her friend blinked at her in confusion, Heather added quietly, "It's HIM... Jack Nicholson! He stopped in and told the bosses that he wanted to see YOU because he trusts you! He's been waiting for over thirty minutes!"
"Oh, God..." Amanda breathed as she steeled herself to walk in and see him. How was she going to tell him now that she WAS pregnant?!!! What if he and Anjelica had really patched things up and decided they belonged together?!! She hadn't heard a word from him since the night they parted, other than the mailed invitation to that premiere over three weeks before, and he hadn't included any kind of personal message with it...
Amanda composed herself as well as she could, took a deep breath and then breezed through her office door like she was greeting any other client, the glass door automatically closing behind her. "Good afternoon, Mr. Nicholson! What can I do for you today?" she said as cheerily as she could as she rushed past him to the other side of her desk and sat down. She noticed that Jack grinned and started to get up to greet her, but he sat back again and his smile faded when she didn't stop.
He stared at her for a moment through his sunglasses before he spoke. "Well, good afternoon to you, too, Miss Lewis." He said her name sarcastically. "I just thought I'd stop in and see if you had any good recommendations as to a place where a couple of celebrities could retreat for a weekend and not be disturbed..."
He saw her eyes flinch when he made the comment about "a couple of celebrities."
